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Days Of Rage Are Coming
Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith of OfTwoMinds blog,
The resistance will take the form of subverting the signifiers of wealth that exemplify the few who have benefited so greatly while everyone else lost ground.
It's time to trade in your Jag, Mercedes, BMW (and maybe your Prius, Volvo, Lexus, etc.) before the Days of Rage start. As I've explained before ( As the "Prosperity" Tide Recedes, the Ugly Reality of Wealth Inequality Is Exposed), the rage of the masses who have been losing ground while the Financier Oligarchs, the New Nobility and the technocrat class reap immense gains for decades has been suppressed by the dream that they too could join the Upper Caste.
But once the realistic odds of that happening (low) sink in, the Days of Rage will begin. For those still who don't know the facts of rising inequality, here's what you need to know.
The top 1% skim 23% of all income:

While the top 5% has enjoyed substantial income gains over the past 45 years, adjusted for inflation, the bottom 90% have lost ground:

The last time there was mass unrest in America was the civil rights/Vietnam War era. The power of the civil rights movement arose from the core injustice of segregation (separate and unequal) and institutionalized racism/bias. This institutionalized injustice drew people from all classes and ethnicities into the streets, where they were promptly beaten by police.
The anti-war's Days of Rage drew from a different well of unrest. In effect, the college-age offspring of the great American middle class had decided that sacrificing their lives for the Domino Theory/defense of previous incalculably stupid Imperial decisions made no sense.
But when they made their doubts known, the Powers That Be's response shocked them: we don't care what you think, you're going to fight our war, no questions asked. The middle class is more than an income bracket; it's a mindset of entitlements, one of which is that the middle class's opinions matter.
Surprise, middle class America--the Power Elites could care less what you think. If the Empire needs your sons for an insane war, deliver them to Caesar, and we'll ship them home in body bags, or alive but hooked on smack, whatever--the individual consequences don't count.
Seeing middle class kids destined for successful careers in the Establishment being beaten, shot down and arrested as if they were rabble laid the Imperial Project bare and disabused people of their naive faith that the Power Elites cared what they thought.
We are approaching another moment in history that disabuses what's left of the middle class of their fantasy that they matter. The poor don't harbor such entitlements; they know all the high-minded promises are shuck and jive. They have fewer illusions to crush.
The heavily-militarized police and the central bureaucracies of repression would love to confront an unarmed mob of middle class kids. It would be child's play to teargas them, beat them, and trundle them off in mass arrests.
But this time around, people have gotten wise to the militarized brutality. The Occupy Wall Street movement taught us all a powerful lesson: if you assemble 500 people in a symbolically important place like Wall Street, the Power Elites will assemble 1,000 cops/F.B.I. agents et al. to crush you.
So the resistance will take the form of subverting the signifiers of wealth (when nobody's looking) that exemplify the few who have benefited so greatly while everyone else lost ground. For example:

If you want to retain your signifier of wealth/success, you'd be better off turning it into an art car:

Alternatively, you can cover it with adverts (Eat at Joe's). People will assume it's a company car and you're just the schmoe hired to drive it.
But by far the safest strategy is to dump the Jag, Benz, etc. and acquire a well-worn econobox vehicle with some rust spots and dents, a car that won't attract any notice in a sea of other old vehicles driven by people clinging to the dignity of personal transport.
If you really want a new car, then buy a working-class hero car, i.e. a new American Muscle car: a Mustang, a Camero, a Challenger. But for goodness sakes, don't dress like a tech-bro or a financier.
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We all have a Third Eye. I think you mean you plan to leave a hole where his Third Eye was.
Let's try to be accurate, even with esoterica.
So, same as it ever was for me. If someone stepped into the path of my car and tried to force me to stop, less than a second would go by before i choose to run them over.
I get the macho talk but reality is you are busy driving and are a highlighted target with hundreds of potantial hidden in the crowd shooters around you. The shooters are not gonna jump in front of you and wave a 9mm around. They are just gonna fill your Beemer full of holes while you maybe hit the gas and get out of Dodge. A beater (appearance, not mechanicals) car may become one of the best self defense tool you can have in this coming brave new world.
It would be the expected response. In unstable times, people will target that which represents the 'enemy'.
But it goes way beyond the immediate chaos...there is also a very good chance that a global economic crisis will result in a major attitude-shift that makes conspicuous consumption about as popular as pedophilia. For an entire generation, or more.
We are not going back to growth and ever-rising markets, folks. And great wealth is not going to be respected in a world that decides to pare down.
Austerity for everyone! And not imposed from above, but CHOSEN from below...the REAL nightmare scenario for big finance.
"....The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA. Thank you very much."
- Gordo!
I guess my '91 Mazda pickup will work, as long as it isn't attacked for being a "Japmobile" or a "damn rice-burner".
It's a stick shift, so most of the millenials wouldn't be able to drive it off a bridge anyway.
manual transmissions have always been the best anti-theft device in North America; but bear in mind you'll have to park it yourself, otherwise the valets will set off so many engine warning lights your dash will look like a christmas tree (true story)
No. No. No. Your issue was because it was either a Merc. or a BMW, and that happens no matter who drives it or when for that matter.
hahah! Really it was neither, but you're right about two things:
Took my Dodge 1500 to a tire shop because one tire was always leaking around the bead. Idiots couldn't figure out how a clutch worked. Asked me to drive it into the bay and then back out again after they finished. In this day and age, I guess we are fucking relics that grew up with manual transmission vehicles. I get into my wife's Corolla and wonder who stole the clutch pedal.
Can we wait until football season is over?
I stripped suit used to be the coolest thing in 2007
not so much anymore after the economic crisis of 2008...
Is that why no matter how much you pay per plate for an evening out everyone is in shorts, t-shirt and ball cap? I mis-understood that one, deeply, it seems. I now have about .00000001 percent more respect for them. THANKS!
So evident that an angry mob mentality has been purposely injected today... Just saying.
Maybe a hat tip to the People's Pope.
A few years ago I had come out of the gym to see a 24ish woman hysterical. Her brand new black Escalade's window was bashed in, glass everywhere. I was worried I was hit too because a lot of glass was on my car but my old Hyundai was next to her untouched. She was screaming into the phone at the police who would not come out for a smash and grab and would only take a phone report. Someone learned a lesson that day.
I did too. In my truck I had over $2000 worth of guns and ammo. I was going to meet Mr Miffed after the gym for a nice shoot at the range and Thai dinner. My junker car saved my ass that day and I was never so foolish again.
Miffed
In my truck I had over $2000 worth of guns and ammo.
Ha Ha. Mrs. Miffed probably has an M-60 or a SAW for the range.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M60_machine_gun
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M249_light_machine_gun
$2000? I get the impresion the Miffed family is not a whine and cheese expensive Benelli skeet shooting gun owner.
$2,000 is really about two guns, a decent shotgun and a properly equipped .556 carbine.
They have some really cool velcro straps holsters that you can hide up in or under the steering column now. The problem with driving a truck is if they break in they are probably looking for a gun but they also know you are likely to have one so they probably keep one tweaker on lookout...lol
And if they just want the vehicle, the first place they put their hands is... under the steering column. Oh look!!! I just found a burner that will get someone else charged for murder!!!
When I carry I never leave it behind in the vehicle, not even just to run into the Post Office for one minute (not a good idea to carry there...illegal and all that...but I carry into the bank all the time. I hate it, and feel naked and exposed, but when i must enter a courthouse, state dept. office, or some such i don't carry. Unfortunately you pass through some of the worst areas to get to these buildings, where you are most likely to need your firearm, but can't get into the required buildings.
MS, with all due respect, and that respect (if related to MsCre.) is high, I recommend that you don't leave your firearm in your car when you are away from it.
They don't always check the steering column well though. Certainly some vehicles are going to be tricky to hide something in but you can always modify the enterior and that's usually what you are going to want to do. Also, if the gun is too obvious you can always unstrap the gun, take it with you and pull the clip so now you have two guns on your person incase ninjas arrive and you need to go Dirty Harry.
If someone steals your gun your report it immediately, if you can't report it because it is not legal then you live in the wrong state.
Court houses are definitely a problem though so I see your point.
You mean we are going to take Versailles again?
Wow, that Queen's vagina sculpture will be the first object to feel the heat!
I hope the Queen doesn't feel Miffed enuff to say : let them eat my cake!
All roads lead to Damascus or Mecca?
"Surprise, middle class America--the Power Elites could care less what you think."
My goodness...it is COULDN'T CARE LESS. Saying could care less means one cares. Why do so many people have a problem with this? JUST THINK before you type or say something.
As for the whole "get rid of your nice car" idiocy....fuck that. If anyone looks to go smash up a nice car or nice anything then I hope they get killed or severely fucked up for doing it. Just because someone may be pissed at their position in life doesn't give them the right to go damage another's property. People who do that shit shouldn't be allowed to live.
.357 reasons not to touch your car. And I agree.
I used to have a high end bike that I spray painted ugly and left it dirty all the time. Could leave it parked and locked anywhere without much worry. Author has a good point.
Been doing this for years. My daily commute car is a rusty 12 year old Chevy SUV. I can easily afford and have friends with garages full of 911s and BMWs but I rather enjoy flying under people's radar. I'd much rather spend the money on prepping and PM's. If I have to get out of dodge I look like every other working class guy. Going 0-60 under 4 seconds doesn't interest me. Getting 250 miles safely to my second home in the woods does. Can't carry much in the trunk of a 911 anyway.
Dude - if you live anywhere near Milwaukee - you definetely want to get out of Dodge when those EBT's stop working.
I agree Milwaukee but there is also a fine line between looking modest and meeting profiling standards. You want to look to poor to rob but not too poor to defend yourself, at least the predators that don't have badges can be defended against. Cops love pulling over people in busted ass vehicles and making up excuses they figure you may have lapsed insurance or just finished off a half rack of old Milwaukee. I learned this when I was pulled over repeatedly in an 89 Nissan Maxima (amazing car), they always had a BS excuse (tail light etc) and I never got a ticket.
Apparently among the most profiled vehicles (if your white) are an older Camaro and an older Prelude. Some of your highest ticketed cars include nicer ones like the newer scions and Hummer (nobody likes people who drive Hummers). Supposedly the GMC Sierra truck is the least ticketed. So your probably okay in an older truck.
@ Ms no
They'll discover the defense part close up and personal. Inside my rusty Chevy rides a Glock 27 in an ankle holster. Fully permitted to carry.
Some things some people will just have to learn the hard way.
Good for you, I'm not about being fodder for thugs either. In AZ you can carry anywhere and women can carry in any bar even unless it's posted otherwise no permit required. I damn near was robbed at a laundry recently so I need to go shopping because I don't trust the Sig without a safety for the purse, it's good for the vehicle though. We have had 5 home invasion attempts get shot in the the act the last 3 months and that's what needs to happen.
I agree.
Thanks for the tip. I really want to get a knuckle taser too. The kind you keep in your hand as you walk through a parkinglot and all you have to do is squeeze and make contact. I had been given one as a gift but it was stolen from me at work, it seemed the perfect defense in a situation where you have no time to pull, unsafety, chamber and fire.
Recently a man was killed in his driveway here. A handful of people were in the driveway talking before disembarking somewhere and a guy all dressed in black tried to nab a girls purse. One guy fought back and grabbed the purse and he was stabbed in the neck and died.... in his own driveway! You pretty much have to be ready these days.
Never bring a taser to a gun fight.
And while you're at it don't bother bringing a kevlar vest to a x-bow fight either
CZ also makes pistols with safeties and decockers.
And at least two ex Delta force firearm instructios/trainers use them
Mike Pannone and Jim Smith, Actually Smith carries a Sphinx, a swiss made CZ action type that goes for about $1200 in stainless.
I do not disagree with your plan but consider a few things:
- 0-60 may not be so important, but people with trucks and large SUV's think they have fast vehicles- they are turtles- PERIOD. Keep that in mind if your plans need higher speeds (above 70mph) because you will be overrun above 75mph by almost any other type of vehicle. They won't ram you and you won't ram them...they will shoot you if they feel it is necessary.
250 miles is a long way to go when:
- your vehicle looks like a moving gas station
- your vehicle is loaded with stuff
- you have no real idea what is going on in the towns and such you MUST pass through to get there
I had a similar plan for a while, until i realized the 210 mile journey would be utterly impossible once the downward spiral gained steam. Sold the home in late 2005 at the top of the market and bailed. I don't understand how so many couldn't see it coming. Everyone had similar jobs but nearly everyone had new high end cars and big new houses (without curtains due maxed budget) but nobody questioned how they did it? Talk about being intentionally blind by choice!
Now i am, well look at my "name" - and still have work to do.
I'm right with you. Getting on a 'freeway' (how ironic) will be a death sentence. Look at the folks trying to stream out of Syria. Same thing - except something all loaded up with 'supplies' will look like manna from heaven - and eventually you'll attract attention you don't want. You grow a good community, plan and prepare, and stay away from the crowds. Three or four burning semi's and that freeway will be a fucking parking lot - then what are you going to do? Get out on foot and carry your crap through unfamilar country. Sure buddy. You folks who think a 'bug out' plan from a major metro is doable are going to be 'moving caches' of 'readily available supplies' for knot heads. You better time your exit at least a week before the panic sets in - or you are totally screwed. Have you ever been to Texas, Louisiana or Florida when a hurricane is steaming that way? Think that except everyone has loaded guns and is hungry and scared as shit. Holy cow not a place I want to be!
It's not the people that drive nice cars that should be worried. Most are hard working and have probably earned what they have.
It's the people who don't have to drive that should be worried.
If this devolves to mob violence, it will be people who show signs of wealth who are a target.
Don't wear clean clothes or wash your hair.
BTW - there is yet another chart (Top 1% Pre-Tax Income Share) showing the consequence of unhinging from the Gold standard in '72 - financialization of the economy and income inequality.
Bye-bye Middle Class!
Given the size of the disparities and injustices the Elite have been shoving down our throats, the 'Days of Rage' comparators listed are inadequate.
When the currency collapses you'll see something closer to 'The Terror' (from Revolutionary France) or worse.
You'll have 1000 police showing up, expecting 500 unarmed protestors...and get 10,000 heavily armed people who want to do more than protest.
The Elites of every age always believe in the effectiveness of their Praetorians to quell mass dissent.
It never works that way...because even if the praetorians are equipped and numerous enough, they live where the masses live, eat where they eat, etc.
The best the elites will get is a defecting praetorian.
The worst is a praetorian that turns on them, and decides to tear off hunks of decaying society for themselves and become Warlords, or traditional Aristocracy.
Punishment for fraud appears to be selective; it depends on who commits it and who benefits from it.
The global elite are using climate change fraud to scare the populace into opening their pocketbooks and accepting a socialist one-world order, while making themselves filthy rich.
Data charts used by Steven Goddard of Real Science show that “almost half of all reported US temperature data [used by the climate “scientists] is now fake. They fill in missing rural data with urban data to create the appearance of non-existent US warming.”
As one observer points out: Having your temperature recorded over trees and grass is apparently greatly different from having it sitting on asphalt and concrete, next to jet exhaust and air conditioning exhaust.
“Fake data’means fake, not adjusted, says blogger Acres of Statuary. “This is accomplished by replacing perfectly good data from temperature observation stations in rural areas with _estimated_ data extrapolated from urban stations. As time goes by the area around the urban stations get more built up with more concrete & asphalt, houses, buildings & other sources of heat causing the estimated data to increasingly diverge from the actual readings.
“The ‘time of observation’ adjustment was a one-time event. The beauty of using estimated data from the perspective of someone who is promoting the idea of climate change is that the fraud can be carried out over a long time & the changes made gradually as needed to support the alarm.”
https://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/2015/07/27/mind-blowing-temperature-fraud-at-noaa/
Blogs Jim Man four weeks ago:
+JMMH47 co2 emissions being the cause of global warming is a lie, the 97% consensus is a lie. california is a socialist state and already broke from implimention their failed projects. and like all extremest they want to push it on the entire world. Over 37,000 Scientists Sign On Against Man-Made Global Warming Fraud! http://www.kickthemallout.com/article.php/story-the_petition_project Al Gore Sued By 30,000 Scientists For Global Warming Fraud http://healthwyze.org/index.php/component/content/article/249-al-gore-sued-by-30000-scientists-for-global-warming-fraud.html 31,487 American scientists have signed this petition, including 9,029 with PhDs http://www.petitionproject.org/ New evidence against global warming http://www.wnd.com/2015/04/top-scientists-examine-fiddled-global-warming-figures/ 5 Scientific Reasons That Global Warming Isn't Happening John Hawkins | Feb 18, 2014 http://townhall.com/columnists/johnhawkins/2014/02/18/5-scientific-reasons-that-global-warming-isnt-happening-n1796423/page/full Greenpeace co-founder: No scientific evidence of man-made global warming http://dailycaller.com/2014/02/25/greenpeace-co-founder-no-scientific-evidence-of-man-made-global-warming/
You are correct they need a new scam, the air is clean and sweet, the water cleaner than ever (outside of EPA meddling) and the sheep are starting to resist the equality scam. Yes if we can but resist this one last Leftist scam, we may emerge freer and better on the other side.
So the polar ice caps and glaciers aren't actually shrinking then? And the EPA making a mess on the public dime while cleaning up a privately made mess, which made some private few a pretty penny, is the EPA's fault for even attempting to clear up another 'externalized' mess on the public's behalf in the first place?
Your reasoning is like Swiss cheese and your conclusions like Limburger.
Go on, pull the other one.
If the global warming radicals succeed in pushing government into this massive area of regulations, taxes and punishments, then it is our responsibility to stop thme when we know their data is forged and out of context.
Townhall, reporting in May of 2015 that the Arctic Ice Cap has grown by 533,000 square miles, quotes James Taylor of the Heartland Institute who wrote in Forbes and noted that the 1979 baseline on polar ice recorded a figure that was unusually high: so when some melted we didn’t really need to panic:
The global warming frenzy must be stopped or else we all are in for a massive increase in government: new bureaus and agencies, more surveillance , and rising punishment for those who don’t comply, How about Queensland’s law making it a crime to sell your house without a green audit; a 56-point questionnaire detailing the property’s environmental credentials?
FWIW:
Volume is a function of both surface area and thickness; IE if I take all the pages from one newspaper and lay them side by side over my lawn they'll cover a helluva lot more grass than fifty issues stacked one on top of the other.
ps
"On September 11, Arctic sea ice reached its likely minimum extent for 2015. The minimum ice extent was the fourth lowest in the satellite record, and reinforces the long-term downward trend in Arctic ice extent."
You'll find a lot more facts from that link too but they're all focused on the 'sciency' stuff, rather than the political hay being made from it, so it may not be your cup of tea unlike the wholly unbiased <cough> conjecture put forth by the Heartland Institute and Forbes.
"They like what science gives them, but not the questions, no. Not the questions that science asks." - Mr. Rzykruski
no "sciency" stuff here and no "political-y" stuff either.
How is it that when a group of "warmers" oh it is "climate changers" now took a ship to the antartic to re-trace the path of a ship 100 years earlier to see how far the ice retreated due to melt it got stuck in the ice and they had to fly in and rescue the crew because it was MANY miles more than it was a century earlier?
I prefer melt to cooling, at least we will be able to grow food in heat...not so much in an ice age. Talk about massive die-off rates.
If the C.C.'s want people to believe them- STOP LYING AND MAKING THINGS UP! Nat. Geo. stated in the late 70's that we are facing an ice age and a decade later said the opposite! The truth is the data, if any of it is even real and/or accurate, is inconclusive.
AND- as an example of impossible goals, look at VW. They are the hippie car, or subaru if they are same sex couples, of choice. EVEN VW doesn't meet the goals pushed upon them, so they lied (or something). Worry more about volcano's, they are much worse than all the cars in the world.
"How is it that when a group... took a ship to the antartic to re-trace the path of a ship 100 years earlier to see how far the ice retreated due to melt it got stuck in the ice and they had to fly in and rescue the crew because it was MANY miles more than it was a century earlier?"
Because the ice pack moves around. Kinda like if you tried to retrace the exact route of Sam Clemens down the Mississippi River you'd find that today you'd need a car rather than a steamboat to traverse parts of it.
"If the C.C.'s want people to believe them- STOP LYING AND MAKING THINGS UP! Nat. Geo. stated in the late 70's that we are facing an ice age and a decade later said the opposite! The truth is the data, if any of it is even real and/or accurate, is inconclusive."
Inconclusive according to whom, the Heartland Institute? And it doesn't mean science was "lying" when it updates its conclusions to accomodate new evidence.
Yeah, volcanoes and massive meteorites have the potential to do more damage in an hour than the havoc all of humanity can wreak in a century; but not for lack of trying! IE that doesn't necessarily mean that 'dilution is the solution' is an infinitely sustainable mantra.
When data is attacked by data and the global warming fanatics are consistently on the side of the scammers, lies and misrepresented temperatures and ice measurements, etc., it’s imperataive that we stick to the reputable data. I am particularly troubled by the global warming alarmists that their programs will lead to a shutdown of free enterprise society and privacy and Western civilication.
All you need for a review of the fraud behind global warming is to review “the greatest scandal in modern science":
CLIMATEGATE!
LEAKED EMAILS AND DOCUMENTS FROM HADLEY CLIMATE CHANGE UNIT PROVE GLOBAL WARMING "EXPERTS" KNOW EARTH IS ACTUALLY COOLING!
If you own any shares in alternative energy companies I should start dumping them NOW. The conspiracy behind the Anthropogenic Global Warming myth (aka AGW; aka ManBearPig) has been suddenly, brutally and quite deliciously exposed after a hacker broke into the computers at the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit (aka CRU) and released 61 megabytes of confidential files onto the internet. (Hat tip: Watts Up With That)
When you read some of those files – including 1079 emails and 72 documents – you realise just why the boffins at CRU might have preferred to keep them confidential. As Andrew Bolt puts it, this scandal could well be “the greatest in modern science”. These alleged emails – supposedly exchanged by some of the most prominent scientists pushing AGW theory – suggest:
Conspiracy, collusion in exaggerating warming data, possibly illegal destruction of embarrassing information, organised resistance to disclosure, manipulation of data, private admissions of flaws in their public claims and much more. [full article].
http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/globalwarming.html
Scientific corruption at the highest levels:
Still pumping the old nag that was debunked years ago?
Your comment is like concluding that, because a couple of undergrads faked their lab results so they could go party with the rest of the class, force is no longer a function of mass and acceleration.
"When data is attacked by data and the global warming fanatics are consistently on the side of the scammers, lies and misrepresented temperatures and ice measurements, etc., it’s imperataive that we stick to the reputable data."
Then why on earth is the sole "data" set supporting your position essentially an email exchange between people who's results don't amount to much more than a hill of beans on the subject?
Important and fact filled post. Thx!
The masses will never realize that the 1% and the bankers are the enemy. The corporate whore media will tell them that it's all the Mexicans fault, or that it's all the other political party's fault, and then they will turn on each other while the 1% enjoy continue to enjoy their steaks and hookers and blow.
the Occupy WS people took the 70's playbook and thought they were dealing with LBJ and that the govt was accountable to the people. We now know it's not. The law enforcement agencies are for whomever pays them. They work for the status quo, especially Wall St banks. Most of all the NYC elite that is full of certain types that were run out of almost every country in the world.
The OWS people have realized they are helpless and out gunned a thousand to one by people happy to blow their brains out.
In my opinion they will have a new stratedgy: identifying the rich using clandestine research and targeting them with home invasions, destruction of property, kidnapping, and even death. Once more, armed resistence against police agencies.
I don't see life in the USA as being great anymore. I'm really glad I'm old and wont be around to see how ugly it all could become quickly.
"70's playbook"?
Well, I suppose that would explain the dearth of effect; I mean I doubt the "Wobblies" ever caught Saturday Night Fever.
True story,
I had been a BMW CCA member starting in 2001, driving my 1980s era 318is, 325, M635 euro, and 535is tuner cars.(one at a time, I was not rich) no problem from society, it was all good fun. Though when I put a new exhaust on the M635 the muffler shop owner realized this was a rare "MPower" car so he proudly told me all about his new $107k AMG Mercedes.
"I replied, $107k, you paid more in sales tax than I paid for my entire car"
He threw my keys to me and said
"You can back it out yourself"
Fast forward to December 2008. I was decimated by the economy crash, but refused to declare bankruptcy, was $40k in the hole to folks, paid off everyone with credit cards, and moved into a studio apartment. Spent 18 months selling off my toys and sending 1/2 my income to pay off those debts.
As a reward I decided to buy a new BMW, and choose the cheapest model, a 128i, no frills, vinyl interior, stick shift, but had the sport package. it was a last year left over, and the dealer paid my airline ticket to come get it. $32k, but only $350 per month no money down, 0% interest 60 months, with a $17k "balloon" final payment.
so I start driving this car around the SF Bay area. Over on the peninsula, it was OK, I just looked like a regular middle class schmoo, working stiff.
But in 2011 I took a Job across the bay in San Ramon. Now I had to Drive over with the folks from Alameda, Oakland, Castro Valley.
Some of These folks HATED my car, all kinds of Honda hop up dudes older 5.0 mustangs and Chrysler 300s or SUVs with 22" chrome wheels want to either race or show off, try to cut me off. Almost every week there was some interesting incident. I learned to ignore such challenges, avoid eye contact etc.
The worst was the guy who threw Lug nuts out the window at us on the San Mateo Bridge, We caught one in the windshield. Nearly came through, showered glass all over me, cut my knuckles up. A coffee cup size section of the glass was just held together by the plastic middle layer.
If we were not both wearing sunglasses we could have lost our eyes there was so much glass thrown into the car.
My wife was amazed I held my composure and stayed in my lane, but I was shaken up. The adrenaline surge after gave me the shakes.
I kept the car until the last month before the $17k balloon, and sold it for just enough to need to kick in $300 extra to pay off BMW, to another guy with an older M3.
But I rarely drove the car from then forward.
We went out and bought a truly ugly 1989 Mitsubishi Montero with a winch front bumper safari roof rack, rust through on the fenders and painted the bumpers and hood flat black. The thing never passed CA emissions, and was expensive in fuel, nearly $60 per week.
But No one effed with me anymore in traffic on the east bay side.
We left the state, and only brought with us a Nilsson econobox. Now I have a diesel Dodge Ram quad cab 4x4, which is socially acceptable in Oregon
Another true story. Back in 2008 my 93 year old grandmother gave me her 2001 Jaguar XK8. She thought her driving days were over. I'd ridden with her and she was right. So I flew Florida to get the car. This was exactly as the 2008 melt down in the market because the financial news was all I listened to on my drive back
First nice fall weekend my wife and I decide to crank down the top and take a backroad to get to a country wedding. Tops down. I'm driving maybe 5 over on a back country two lane. Just enjoying the autumn day. People are backing up behind me. As each one passes they flip me the bird.
My wife asked what did I do. I said to her, it's not me it's the car.
So like a said in an earlier post. My daily drive is an old Chevy.
And those are the greedy, I'll murder you for having more than I crowd. They're a dictator's dream population.
I've never felt more ashamed to be an American. This is the desired result of 50 years of rank socialist indoctrination.
It keeps growing, just so you know. I am not sure when or if the shame levels off or recedes, but i do have empathy for you.
Rage misdirected. The communist strategy has always been aimed at division of the classes, using the frustration of one to attack another. Lenin's program forged attacks not on the superrich but on anyone who had some kind of property, even a small garden parcel. And those people lost everything they had to a swarm of peasants eager to move in. And, now, attacking people who own a BMW or a Mercedes, many who have sacrificed theri budget in other areas to be able to afford the car, are being set up to be attacked by a government strategy to dissolve private property. America is no longer a land of Christian brotherhood; it is a land of planned class hatred.
And all the while the perpetrators of the hatred ride behind black glass in their chauffeured, bullet-proof limousines and private jets.
The Proletariat be the so called po folk being enraged and empowered to savage the Bourgeoisie (Middle Class) as manipulated by the de facto Dictatorship of the Proletariat. I really think that the resemblance to the dogma is stunning.
Well said, falcon.
Two Minds: Wishful thinking.
By the time the youtts figure out that they are baked it will be too late for action. Even rage will not stand up to well-armed and militarized police forces. Those with fancy will be attacked, but not at any sort of scale.
Government corruption of the Peace and Love Generation with "dirty hippy" and "druggy" propaganda (even as they Jacob's Ladder and MK Ultra'ed the kids) was completely successful. And the covert nature, the conspiracy theory of it all, has been relegated to the garbage pit. There is no mass knowledge.
Now, if it was understood how completely and deliberately the people's rage was twisted into nothing - well, that is not going to happen.
But, I do have hope. Something else will happen. Something positive and much more disciplined.
Peace.
"It's time to trade in your Jag, Mercedes, BMW (and maybe your Prius, Volvo, Lexus, etc.) before the Days of Rage start."
Screw that. I'm currently Porsche shopping because Obama made me rich thru the fed.
if the thugs want to torch my Porsche, they're going to find out some of them are going up with it as I have been carrying weapons since Baltimore showed that its on for the coming years for looting and rioting.
I hate it when bad CHS posts. What on earth does a "tech bro", whatever that is, have to do with a financier? Presuming he is referring to a coder or tech person, such a person actually adds value to society, rather than borrowing at 0% from the Fed and lending at 4%.
Billions to be made, making shitty movies ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezwi5blekgw
The straight up the nose camera perspective is not good Sully....detracts from teh message....
That would be hilarous in Scottsdale, it would be a virtual junk yard. It doesn't seem to matter what people make here they have to have an Audi, beemer or exotic. I can understand buying and fixing up classics but the rest of it just pissing money away and you better have a lot of it to justify that. I would guess at least half the people in this area have the majority of their wealth tied up in a losing asset that makes them feel successful.
"Apart from 'seasoning' the lobster bisque, he farted on meringues, sneezed on the braised endive, and as for the cream of mushroom soup, well... you get the idea." - TD
Meh
Just give me the bag of Cheetos, a TV to watch Caitlyn Jenner and some diabetes medicine and we'll be fine....
BS .... the cheap seaters are mad at the people right in front of them .... they can't even see the people on the front row of the 50 yard line ?
Sadly american society is based on respect for wealth and the rich. Everyone wants to emulate that lifestyle,even the poorest flea. Brainwashed people will never be any sort of anarchist .The ones that are have no preferance for what kind of car or house to target.
Unreal. They pulled him out of a truck and threw a cinder block on his head because he was white. OK got it ?
Well, perhaps a 5,000% increase in corporate taxes and the elimination of corporate welfare would help stave off "The Hords". Since none of that is likely, great. In the words of a US POTUS, "Bring It On".
He's making a list
Checking it thrice
Gonna find out who's haughty and nice
Robospierre is coming
To town
He sees you when you're cheating,
He knows if you're a fake,
He knows if you're a Robin Hood,
So cry "A Locksley!" for goodness sake
You'd better not flout,
Your net worth on high,
You sociopath,
I'm tellin' you why:
Robospierre is comin'
Around
It'll come very soon if the gov't shutdown happens and EBTs not being replenished.
EBT bankrupt, because I said so
How about a graying pony-tail Charles - you know, a nostalgic testament to those days of yore that you so fondly remember...?
My white f350 diesel with a cattle guard front bumper looks like half the other white trucks on the road in my part of the country.
Maybe an NRA sticker on your Benz with bring less attention?
They have a problem. Their cops live in our neighborhoods. If they think they can spend the day beating and killing us and then come home for dinner they're crazy. They'll be swinging from the trees in their front yards, they and their whole family. This time these pigs will have real skin in the game, they gotta sleep sometime. And "stop resisting" and their adversary stands still and let's the cop beat him won't be an option for the pig anymore. This will be real war you don't get to call time out you pig bitches.
I hope today's papal pabulum and the collapse to DJIA handle 15k and SPX 1800 is remembered as THE ROME ROUT.
Another trillion araised....
Huh?
< don't panic, keep the car.
< sell my 2011 Lexus GS 350, buy a Scion
I've wondered about things like this for some time now.
I had a Day Of Rage today. Went to renew my driving license, took my place in the orderly queue, waiting for my number to be called. In comes a 40 stone African, fattened on my taxes..............jumped the queue and when challenged screamed racism, threatened all and sundry with lawsuits if she didn't get served immediately.
She got served immediately.
Hence my Day Of Rage
Gawd, they need a group beat down.
Now you kinow why people are racist against them... especially in their own country
Hey Tyler's what type of cars do you drive... You guys are full of shit.
Fuck them. I am middle class and bought my Lexus cash. It is definitely not a status symbol.
Same here. Wondering if I should keep it now, though... (I do enjoy it)
Bought a used BMW and restored it myself but I reckon that fact doesn't hold water for the enraged masses.
And I feel the "Tonier" neighbors will be first on the list.
2016 to 2020
They will have their war.
But they wont live to enjoy its victory.
Time for that Chameleon XLE
http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/chameleon/2859849
Thanks Phil.
Great blast from the past TN. Thnx!
Those who have the money to easily afford $100k cars do not usually live in cities and neighborhoods where this is a problem, I'm thinking a good deal of the San Francisco Bay area and the better SoCal communities. It's all about location. Life in bubbleland with the top 1% is quite nice and quite isolated. Perhaps that will change but for the moment I don't think anyone has to worry about a revolution in the tonier neighborhoods.
just keep in mind, the next go around won't be millennials partying in the park for a protest. They wont be around to be tased, beaten, maced. It will be bullets from the bushes. Your "bubble neighborhoods are not hidden from sight. You may feel all cozy within, but so does the ostrich.
Boy, let the sheit begin. I've got my targets
I pulled up at the lights in my Roller and this guy on a motorbike pulled up next to me, gave the bonnet a big thump with his gloved fist and roared off. I was so cross I raced sfter him and jumped the red!
South Africans have known for a long time that if you want to stay alive at stop signs rust is good.
Welcome to the new world disorder and try not to be stupid all your lives.
Excellent perspective of events, but I don't drive a jag.
These days aren't Jags just Ford Taurus' with a tin cat riveted to them anyway?
Oh, I thought it was an A4. My bad.
TaTa since 2008! My bad!
Three weeks ago a guy next to me at a light threw an empty drink cup at my car. In 2005 is was one of the most expensive U.S. made cars, Limited Edition and it shows.
I usually enjoy CHS's musings, but this whole article screams of jealousy and resentment, and does nothing to get to the root of the problem.
Which is?
Prole PatinaTM.
I don't have a problem with people who have money and not every rich person is a tyrant and a criminal but I wonder about what the filthy rich would do if the SHTF. I had a friend who rented a place that was owned by the Duponts on the beach in the Dominican and it had no real defense except for a fence, now how in the hell can a palace among the skinny starving hordes of the poor and highly HIV infected in DR be defended against without an entire roof lined with machine guns? Well it wont, they are treading a fine line as it is which probably why they are never there and just rent it out for exorbitant amounts of money.
It's going to be a free for all against everyone that appears to have financial security period. At this rate even having a car or a home will mean you are the new rich. There are certain places that you could see would become completely controlled by mobs but other areas they would get wiped out. In areas in the South and in Arizona angry mobs would get wiped out, even old ladies here are dangerous and I am not even kidding. They may get away with trashing cars and rioting but the second they start hitting houses it's over.
This sucks.
Now how am I supposed to drive my vomit green 1998 Ford Windstar and feel safe?
I'm guessing any violent reaction to it is visceral.
I hate to break the bad news, but to most of the world a rusty old 1989 Toyota Carolla is a sign of oppulent wealth.
I wonder if the rage will extend to people with an iPhone 6s+?
Or just cell phones in general.
The guy with the Obama phone will want an upgrade.
IF there's any justice, it will. ;o
I don't think society would be so lucky for that to happen.
What about the Caddies and Beemers in the housing project?
I pity the fool, nigga!
Droogies,
Trashing a car is for pussies.
Knock a fucking building down.
WTF is this? Fight Club? or Pussy Club?
Days of rage is here and I 'm ready.
I ride a HD Road King equipped with a bad ass framing hammer, a pair of loaded Glock 37s and four homemade hand grenades in each saddle bag, a lexan helmet and a bullet proof vest on the way to work.
When I'm on my period, I carry, a FIM-92 M -- Stinger missile launcher with a 8,000 m range. Twenty-five missiles with high explosive annular blast fragmentation warheads filled with VX Nerve agent and a fully loaded AK-47 assault rifle for short-range protection.
But, that is only once a month when I'm a little cranky and unstable.
Either way, the 1% are fucked.
Love hurts,
Alexa
a bad ass framing hammer
With a milled face? yeah baby..
Hate to break it to you but many folks driving luxury vehicles are part of the same class of citizens that are on the short end of the stick. Given today's easy ways to lease vehicles a car is not a signifier of prosperity.
I have lived in the same place for 25 years - typical middle class.
I have always been a gun nut - but didn't see any of my neighbors - except one guy that hunts deer - as even being gun owners.
Over the years I ran into them at gun shows - or at the local indoor shooting range.
I discovered my neighbors are almost as well armed as I am - once we knew the other liked guns it broke the ice and we disclosed a little about what we had -
If a mob of angry people try and attack my neighborhood they will quickly find themselves caught in a crossfire that will be damn hard to survive.
Now this really sucks. I've been on the low side of the income spectrum my whole life, but a year ago I found a 2000 Mercedes 320E for $1500 on Craigslist that didn't have anything wrong with it but 200k miles and a few dings. It is by far the best vehicle I have ever owned. Now I gotta give it up?
A former father-in-law had money but to his credit, was never ostentatious about it. He was retired when I met him. Drove mid-sized pickups as long as I knew him and never washed them. Kept the inside tidy mind you, but let the dirt collect. Wore ratty jeans, deck shoes and not quite thread-bare collared shirts. Lived on beer and canned soup and knew where just about every genuine mexican food place was in the Valley - the ones with the least gringos usually.
To this day I have never had a chorizo chimi like the ones I got in the Valley.
July 2014 I was in the Forest Lakes IL Walmart next to Murderwood on the edge of Chiraq off the Heroin Highway about 11 pm'ish and pretty positive I was the only one paying with other than EBT card. The place was packed and the lines were long. I Thought to myself if, excuse me, when the EBT goes down, the Walmart Store will be toast.
Was in a grocery when that very thing happened a couple of years back.
I like to ask Gun Control people where they'll be the day the EBT doesn't work.
Of course they dismiss any such talk as Reich-wingey conspiracy stuff. I counter that their belief in Darwinism will be frigtheningly prophetic when that day comes.
Word.
I had coffee with an attractive K-9 cop lady. She said she would not drive through the bad parts without her gun in her lap finger on trigger and safety off. I compliied and added a 1/4 ton of DOG. Then your safe to go to the Popeyes for their piping hot chicken.
I see your point - but a large number of people that are using EBT have cash in their pocket that they could use to buy stuff at Walmart.
They choose to sign up for EBT and allow the taxpayer to pay for some of their stuff - and they use their cash to buy stuff that is not covered by EBT (unless it is at a 50% discount).
Just because someone has a EBT card doesn't mean they are poor - that is so 1980s.
I have watched many times - a couple with two carts full of stuff - woman uses the EBT to pay for the first cart - the man pulls out a big wad of cash, peels off a few $100's to pay for the second cart.
Totally agree with your point. I was the chump paying with my money. A high percentage of 2 leggers in Chiraq are scamming the system. Place reminds me of movie "I Am Legend". Among our encounters, the dogs and I had run ins with deer, skunks and native tribes. Not sure why but tribesmen are scared shitless of 200lb dogs.
The only problem with the premise of this article is that rich folks have really good insurance. A spate of Benz burnings would just drive up rates for everyone else and guarantee that the rich guy got a new Benz.
Damage from civil disturbances aren't covered.
Joseph Schumpeter (1883–1950) coined the seemingly paradoxical term “creative destruction".
Is that what this author is talking about?
Poor people own BMWs too.
Yep. Drive by many public housing parking lots and you'll see late model Beemers and Mercedes and Range Rovers etc.
Will the Revolution be televised for them too?
My garage was getting cramped, so I took the cheapest car in it, a 2011 Bugatti Veyron, and gave it to the first bum I saw...
This item is not written in Hugh-Smith's usual style, so maybe it was actually written by someone else. No matter. It is a realistic appraisal of what might be expected if things continue on their current track.
No one with a expensive car would want to get in my way when I'm driving my old heap of a Land Rover.
I don't call it ' The Tank ' for no reason.
Actually, the burned car in the pic was claimed stolen, but it was actually given to a black guy who was paid by the cars owner to take it and set it on fire so the owner could get out from under the payments.
I know this for a few reasons. #1 I know a black is invovled by the looks of the rims on the car next the burned one. #2 I know some blacks that were in engaged in this activity a few years ago, one was an pro football player.
Also, the whole rage thing is true. I've literally been flipped off a couple times while driving a couple of my vehicles thru poorer neighborhoods. I did nothing but drive by.
"The Occupy Wall Street movement taught us all a powerful lesson: if you assemble 500 people in a symbolically important place like Wall Street, the Power Elites will assemble 1,000 cops/F.B.I. agents et al. to crush you."
Of course, they weren't crushed for assembling there and squatted there for MONTHS, raping, doing all their drugs, proclaiming their anti-semitism, declaring their want to steal all rich people's wealth, decrying the expensive uselessness of their... expensive and useless degrees, and shitting on cop cars. That whole crushing part had more to do with that whole planning on bombing bridges terrorism stuff. But why quibble over reality.
BTW, funny how this very small % think they are ok just because of money and possesions. If 90%+ of the country isn't, good luck with those preps. They might give you a 10% edge, if that.
I know this won't be popular, but I look forward to it, lets have a little 1790's France on the top 5%.
I'd prefer a 1780's America on the top 5% and the bottom 30%. Both are greedy and think they're entitled. And the French Revolution damaged the body politic for a 100 years. Maybe they never recovered.
"French Revolution damaged the body politic for a 100 years"
You mean the Establishment of a secular and democratic republic that became increasingly authoritarian and militaristic?
What does that sound like =)
Top 5%???? That's a good chunk of what's left of the middle class these days.
I just keep a few rolls of silver dimes in my Beamer's console - you should see them scatter diving for them! Back up is a Glock 45 with a 30 round clip.